osbooter 2019-10-07 21:34
The mechanics are fine, But the game doesn't have enough interesting things to propel the gameplay. The music is :/ I just don't know exactly what all the collecting of stuff does, by the end of the first floor.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD45 → Unstable Dungeon
By rhymar
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 983 | 2.91 | 51 | |
| Fun | 1027 | 2.57 | 51 | |
| Innovation | 1051 | 2.41 | 50 | |
| Theme | 844 | 2.90 | 50 | |
| Graphics | 929 | 2.75 | 50 | |
| Audio | 678 | 2.29 | 48 | |
| Humor | 828 | 2.04 | 42 | |
| Mood | 969 | 2.70 | 46 |
The mechanics are fine, But the game doesn't have enough interesting things to propel the gameplay. The music is :/ I just don't know exactly what all the collecting of stuff does, by the end of the first floor.
This looks like the basics for a good dungeon crawler, but it is very hard to understand. The controls are not very well explained, and I have no idea what the various things I collected were useful for (even by knowing to teleport back and put them in the cauldron). I wished the game game more feedback on the player's equipment. Still, it's stable, the levels seem to be big, so good job! :)
Core game loop is good, bur a little bit more guidelines for the player would be good I think. I couldn't figure out what the upgrades (were they upgrades?) in the furnance did, for example.
Browsing through the dungeon qnd slashing ennemies was fun, although I found myself a bit lost at what to do next at times.
Pluses : - Good controls and mechanics - Collecting stuff to improve our abilities is satisfying
Possible improvements : - The gameplay loop (kill ennemies to go to the next floor) was not really clear to me. - Being able to only attack from the side sometimes was a bit of a pain.
All in all, good job !
At first the game seemed to have good potential, the mechanics worked and it was fun going around killing monsters. One thing though, I couldn't figure out how to get back to the start in order to upgrade my items. I figured it was one of those games were your progressed is saved after you die. Eventually the game started to become boring as it was the same monsters over and over aagain, and they wern't exactly hard to defeat, untill I came to the Bee-Boss thingy which actually was really hard, but also realy fun to fight. I died against it, I was still using the start items, and went back to the start thinking I could finally upgrade my stuff. But when I went to the upgrading place i found that none of my progress was saved. I don't know if this is itentional but something about this has to be fixed (maybe it was just unclear how to get to the upgrade stuff place)
Overall it was a decent game, mostly because it actually worked and I actually had fun fighting the Boss, but it has some mayor parts that could use improvement: -Add music (search music maker online) -Make it playable in the browser (as I understand it should be pretty easy in itch.io) -More monsters, that are harder -Mandatory tutorial
And then of course fix the upgrade issue.
I like the idea, and im really interested about how you done this game so if you can provide source code somehow it would be very kind. I like the game idea as i said but i dont know how to range attack because its not working for me and the melee attack is pretty slow, another problem is that you cant really use the upgrade system.
Nice game, the hints in start menu should be accessible during the game, i forgot what items were for. The Bee Boss was very challenging, should be a little faster to achieve the upgrades, maybe?
thanks for all the kind words and critics till now. we talked much and we know that the upgrade system isnt what we wanted it to be but for the 72hours we are very proud (besides some issues^^)
and for the upgrade system as it is, you have to upgrade one item 5 times to make it better and for the range to even use it (but you also need the amulett for mana to do range attacks)
some stats:
Melee is 1 DMG + 2DMG per blue Upgrade (thats what you get after upgrade 5 times)
Range is 4 DMG per blue upgrade and only usable at 1 blue upwards
Armor is 20 HP + 20 per blue
Amulette is 10 MP at first blue and +10 every after
Bag let you hold 10 per item per blue upgrade
if you die you lose all so just teleport back to upgrade via B for Inventory and then T
thanks again^^
Nice dungeon crawler. But during the game it is not clear what the collected items give.
Hey, I really enjoyed your game, I like the gathering/crafting ideia. It is a bit grindy to get the powerups. I missed some background music while exploring the dungeon, but I understand that it is a GameJam. Still, great job, really nice entry!
I quite like it, a lot of stuff created, especially in 30 hours and has a lot of potentials, nice work.
It took me a while to figure out what everything did. Eventually I got it, and then it seemed much too grindy, so I simply went and fought the boss and actually managed to win, although I kind of cheesed it. It appears you can kind of stun-lock the boss and, if you're at the right side of the screen, you'll also end up destroying most of the stinger projectiles so you won't get hit too much.
I did like the gameplay but I just think it should be a bit faster, especially to unlock the ranged weapon.
I also like the art, for the most part.
Nice game
Not a fan of the long attack animation, I have no problems having a long cooldown but hate when I'm being weighted down by my own attacks, especially if it's a basic attack. Many things also aren't clear like the crafting system or the pickups. Overall I'd say one of the more ambitious jams I played and I encourage you to continue with the project, I myself want to make a dungeon crawler one day and you have a solid base.
That's a great start for a good dungeon crawler game. I liked the controls of the character, except for the attack... I'd prefer if the character doesn't stop to attack and keeps the velocity during that time. But you did a great job with the game :D I liked playing it and the boss killed me xD
I think with a bit of extra time and some polish you would be able to address most of the previous comments. It was not always clear to me what I was meant to accomplish.
thanks all in later projects i will mark your words^^ for now i try to port everything from Game Maker Studio 2 to Unity^^ and the if my wife got more time she will draw better sprites and i will change things a lot
Good game! Artwork is really nice and gameplay is enjoyable. Needs a lot more polish in some areas: getting damaged and also damaging an enemy felt a little weak, consider adding screenshake and particle effects to these actions. Enemies for the most part came off a bit damage spongey, and weren't much of a challenge to kill. You could just keep spam hitting them, which I believe resets their attack cooldown. They need more unique AI and movement patterns that provide a unique twist on the core gameplay verbs. Wasn't sure what I was meant to be doing in the game exactly, or what some of the UI and pickups meant to symbolise. Controls need to be listed on the hub screen, and many of the pickups need proper in-game explanations. Also consider adding a pitch randomiser onto some of the sounds so that there is a bit more variance. Circular shadows below characters would do a lot in improving the contrast between the characters and the ground. Overall this was a lot of fun to play, it just needs to communicate information to the player better.
Nice dungeon crawler. The levels are well generated. The monsters are no challenge though. I didn't figure out the crafting system or the teleport the first time through, did some damage to the boss then died. Then did a bunch of grinding but gave up when I realised just how much stuff is needed to level up: L1 = 15 things, L2 = +40 things, L3 = +65 things, L4 = +90 things - way too much. Turns out the boss was super easy with level 2 attack and armour, mainly because your attack stops projectiles. The crafting screen really needs to tell you what each thing is.
"Impressive game, Very cool concepts. I left wishing that there is more. Had a lot of fun "
Nice concept could of worked more on the graphics but not an artsy person myself i think the game was very enjoyable!
Neat concept, but I was a little confused on how to use the items you collect. I also wish you could attack in more directions beside left and right. I like the art style though, good job!
could not figure out how to get back to the first room -- likes the graphics and idea -- thanks for making it
The moment to moment gameplay feels really good. The boss was challenging but beatable. My only critique would be that the grind is real. Even when getting a full inventory, you can not buy enough upgrades for them to actually have an effect. I don't think the layered upgrades add to the game, immediate upgrades provide better player feedback and are much more satisfying. See me wacking bugs here: https://youtu.be/pa7iZ-z79Po
No wonder it's an unstable dungeon, considering it's filled with so many bugs. Programming jokes aside...
That's a decent basis for a complete dungeon crawler, though there is a lot of room for improvement.
First of all - the upgrade system. The upgrades take lots and lots of resources to take any real effect. Also, the system is counter-intuitive - taking the green upgrades feels like making some progress, but there's no actual increase in capabilities taking place.
I mean, it makes sense if your bag cannot contain all resources necessary for a full upgrade, but maybe have each green upgrade cost the same amount per blue upgrade level? If we kept blue upgrade costs the same, it would be 3 per green at level 0, 8 per green at level 1, 13 per green at level 2 etc.
If green upgrade costs were fixed, then they could be represented with a bar gradually filling up instead, and blue upgrades could instead be represented with "LV. X" text, and possibly some additional descriptor (e.g. "1DMG", "10 items" and so on). I think this would work better from user experience perspective.
Final note about the upgrades: I don't like how sword, shirt, staff and bag each use only one kind of resource, while amulet uses two kinds of resources, and it's the same as the one for staff and bag. It means that amulet resources are in twice as much demand as non-amulet ones. I feel an amulet-exclusive resource would break that imbalance. Having each upgrade use two kinds of resources (spread evenly among the upgradable items) would add some element of strategy.
The gameplay is functional, but tiring in the long run - especially with how slow the player movement and attacks are. Speaking of attacks, I'd really like an ability to attack up and down aside from left and right. Dungeon exploration can be particularly tedious, when I've already visited most of the floor and there are just a few monsters left (or nont at all) and walk around at snail pace, trying to see if there aren't any nests or bugs to clear. Having a minimap showing the already discovered parts of the floor would help quite a bit. Also, the game needs more variety of enemies - two regular enemies + boss with lackeys isn't nearly enough to keep the player engaged through all that grinding. ^^'
The graphics are fine, but they could likewise use some more variety - some kinds of skulls lying around, or some debris that could act as a landmark. Even using a different hue for each floor would go a long way - as it is now, each floor feels exactly the same. Sound effects are fine, music is absent.
Again - it's a good start (better than nothing), but there's a lot work to be done here to make a full game out of it. ^^'